Foundation lock for mobile homes



Nov. 24, 1970 N. .1. ROTHGEB O 3,541,743

FOUNDATION LOCK FOR MOBILE HOMES Filed NOV. 26, 1968 INVENTOR NOBLE J. ROTHGEB United States Patent 01 Patented Nov. 24, 1970 3,541,748 FOUNDATION LOCK FOR MOBILE HOMES Noble J. Rothgeb, 16009 Harper Road, New Haven, Ind. 46774 Filed Nov. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 778,975 Int. Cl. E02d 27/44 US. Cl. 52-169 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for locking a mobile home to a foundation comprising a plurality of rods mounted for movement on the underside of a mobile home, a plurality of guides secured to the foundation, and apparatus including levers and a handle common to each of the rods for positioning the rods in and retracting the rods from the guides, respectively, to lock and unlock the mobile home from the foundation, as desired.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to mobile homes, more particularly, to a mechanism that is so mounted to the underside of a mobile home as to permit the home to be locked in position on a concrete foundation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention consists of a hollow concrete base in the form of a basement, the top of the base being level and adjacent to the ground; a plurality of hollow guides secured to the top of the sides of the aforesaid hollow concrete base; and a plurality of levers that are suitably secured to the underside of a mobile home, the levers being provided with rods whose ends adapted to be pushed in or pulled out of the aforesaid guides by a manually operated handle that is also located underneath the mobile home, the handle being connected to the aforesaid levers by two pins.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide a lock for mobile homes that will permit one to firmly look a mobile 'home to a foundation when it is desired to use the mobile as a permanent home.

Another object of this invention is to provide a lock for mobile homes that embodies a minimum amount of mechanism and a mechanism that can be serviced by almost any person with little mechanical ability and with tools normally found in the average home.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a lock for mobile homes that can be adapted to the underside of nearly any mobile home in a minimum of time and with a minimum of effort.

It is to be realized that the above objects and advantages of this invention and others will be met as the reading of this specification proceeds and the accompanying drawing is examined.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a horizontally disposed sectional view of this invention, taken along line 11 of FIG. 2, and viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows. Detailed construction of the mechanism is omitted for reasons of simplicity.

FIG. 2 is a side view of this invention with the foundation shown in cross-section and the mobile home shown in phantom lines for reasons of clarity.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of one detail of this invention, taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 1, and viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the three views of the accompanying drawing, like parts of this invention are indicated by like reference numbers.

Looking first at FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawing it will be seen that this invention consists of a hollow concrete base 5 in the ground with the top of the base adjacent to the ground surface. The aforesaid concrete base 5 is rectangular when viewed from the top and side. Six hollow metal guides, three on each side of the base in equal and parallel spaced relation to one another are sesecured to the top of the aforesaid concrete base 5. The guides are indicated in the accompanying drawing by the reference numbers 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. A rod 12 is slidably located in guide 6 while a like rod 13 is in guide 7 and similar rods 14, 15, 16, and 17 are located in guides 8, 9, 10 and 11, as one can see on examination of the already mentioned FIG. 1.

Continuing to look at FIG. 1 of the drawing it will be seen that the other end of lever 18 is secured by a pin to rod 12 While the inner end of lever 18 is secured by a pin to both the inner end of lever 19 and to one end of lever 20. The outer end of lever 19 is secured by a pin to rod 13. Lever 20 is pinned to the end of handle 21 which is secured by pin 22 to the underside of the mobile home 23. A lever 24 has one end pinned to the aforesaid handle 21 while the other end of the same lever 24 is secured by a pin 25 to levers 26, 27, and 28. The outer ends of levers 26 and 27 are secured by pins to the aforesaid rods 14 and 15 respectively. The aforesaid lever 28 has its other end secured by a pin to the inner ends of levers 29 and 30 which in turn are secured by pins to the aforesaid rods 16 and 17, thus completing the lever system of this novel invention.

Looking now at FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawing it will be seen that the above noted system of levers is held to the underside of the aforesaid mobile home 23 by means of two Z-shaped members 31 and 32. However, the actual construction of the aforesaid lever system may be of any desired type and/or configuration depending in part upon the shape, size, and detailed construction of the mobile home 23.

The way in which this invention works is quite obvious from examination of the accompanying drawing and particularly from FIG. 1. Here the levers are shown with the rods 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 in a locked position; phantom lines show the levers in the unlocked position. It is realized that when the aforesaid mobile home 23 is moved over the a'foresaid concrete base 5 and the handle 21 of the lever system is manually moved in the proper position, the six rods will slide into the aforesaid guides that are, as previously stated, secured by cement to the aforesaid base 5, firmly securing the mobile home 23 to the base, which is the principal object of this invention.

It is also to be realized that while I have called the concrete structure 5 a hollow concrete base, the structure is in effect a concrete basement for the mobile home 23. The base includes four vertically disposed concrete walls and a concrete floor, the floor projects outwardly beyond the four walls to form a footing for the base. If desired, a door may be provided in any one wall and steps provided outward of the door for entrance to the basement. The door is not shown in the drawing.

It is also to be realized that while this specification and the accompanying drawing call for and show six guides and rods, the invention is not to be limited to this number which can vary according to the size of the mobile home and the desires of its builder.

This invention is subject to any changes and/or modifications one may care to make in the same in so long as the changes and/ or modifications fall within the scope and intent of the appended claims.

What I now claim as new is:

1. A lock for mobile homes, comprising a plurality of horizontally disposed levers mounted on the underside of a mobile home; a base; a portion of said base being in the ground with the top of the said base being adjacent to the ground surface; a plurality of guides secured to the top of said base; and a plurality of rods connected to said levers, said rods being adapted to be positioned in and retracted from said guides when it is desired to lock said mobile home to the said base and to unlock said mobile home from said base, respectively.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein the said levers and said rods are secured together by means of pins.

3. The invention of claim 2, wherein a handle is secured by pins to said levers, thereby providing a means of manually operating the said levers and said rods when it is desired to lock said mobile home to said base and to unlock said mobile home from said base.

4. The invention of claim 3, wherein the said concrete base embodies four vertically disposed walls and a horizontally disposed floor that projects outward beyond the said walls to form a footing, the said base being in effect a basement.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,416,308 5/1922 Silverman et a1 49--395 2,189,486 2/1940 DAmico 52169 X 2,924,829 2/1960 Mosier 52'169 X 3,007,212 11/1961 Gazin 52-169 X 3,120,032 2/ 1964 Burnette 49395 3,403,487 10/1968 Docter 5223 X 3,452,492 7/1969 Brockway 52l43 X PRICE C. FAW, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 52143 

